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What are some (non-English) idioms, and what do they mean (both literally and in context)? Odd ones, your favorite ones - any and all are welcome. :)

For example, in English I might call someone a "good egg," meaning they're a nice person. Or, if it's raining heavily, I might say "it's raining cats and dogs."

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[-] owsei@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

In Brazil we have "É de cair o cu da bunda" "Makes the butthole fall out of the ass", which indicates something impressive/unexplainable.

And "Que que tem o cu com as calças?" "What does the ass have to do with the pants?". Which asks for the relation of two completely different things. It is generally used as doubting there's a relationship at all.

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[-] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 6 points 8 months ago

In Dutch "that hits (fits) like pliers on a pig", meaning that it's completely absurd.

"Blood crawl where it can't go", means that if you want it bad enough, you'll find a way.

"For an apple and an egg" means it's very cheap. But "little apple little egg" means it's very easy.

But my alltime favourite is "poepje", which is a term of endearment that little means "little shit"

[-] Jumi@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

It is not the yellow from the egg but I understand only train station. My lovely gentleman's singing club, I think I spider!

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[-] ABCDE@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

Spanish: me cago en la leche. I shit in the milk. Like... fuck, damn! Being annoyed at something.

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[-] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 5 points 8 months ago

Never fear the sea, fear the storm.

[-] SzethFriendOfNimi@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

What’s the sense/meaning of this one?

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[-] MadBob@feddit.nl 5 points 8 months ago

Dutch has a few that some say are insane-sounding but for me make a lot of sense as a native English speaker:

  • Bekijk een gegeven paard niet in de bek "don't look a gift horse in the mouth"
  • Ik geef een vinger en je neemt een vuist "I give an inch and you take a mile"
  • De geest is uit de fles "the genie's out the bottle"
  • De ene zijn dood is de andere zijn brood (literally "one's death is the other's bread" but I can't think of an English equivalent)
  • Bier en wijn is fijn; wijn en bier is verkeerd "beer and wine is fine; wine and beer is queer" although that's quite a literal saying
  • Een kruim is toch brood (literally "a crumb is still bread")
[-] schteph@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

Croatian "Ovce i novce" - literally sheep and the money. Same meaning as have your cake and eat it. "Kašika mu u med pala" - spoon fell into honey, meaning he got lucky "Tako ti je grah pao" - this is the way beans fell, meaning it is what it is "Izvukao si deblji kraj" - you got the fatter end, opposite meaning from you got the shorter end. It's kind of a weird one, as it is also sometimes used to mean the same as the shorter end. "Da ti dupe puta vidi" - so your behind can see the trip. Meaning to travel for no special reason, usually used when a reason is given, but is probably just an excuse to travel

[-] Siethron@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

In Japanese they say "sonotori" translated literally it means "that bird" the English idiom equivalent is "on the nose"

[-] Bugger@mander.xyz 4 points 8 months ago

I hate to be "that guy", but 鳥/とり/tori (bird) isn't related to the 通り/とおり/toori (way, road, etc) in the phrase.

[-] baduhai@sopuli.xyz 4 points 8 months ago

"The bamboo is moaning" It's raining really hard.

[-] tiredofsametab@kbin.run 3 points 8 months ago

I started listing some in Japanese, but realized this site does a better job than I could: https://www.fluentu.com/blog/japanese/japanese-idioms/ I've heard a fair number of those in person, some frequently.

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this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2024
163 points (97.7% liked)

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